Childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and quadrupled in adolescents in the past 30 years.

The percentage of children aged 6–11 years in the United States who were obese increased from 7% in 1980 to nearly 18% in 2012. Similarly, the percentage of adolescents aged 12–19 years who were obese increased from 5% to nearly 21% over the same period.

In 2012, more than one third of children and adolescents were overweight or obese.

Overweight is defined as having excess body weight for a particular height from fat, muscle, bone, water, or a combination of these factors. Obesity is defined as having excess body fat.

I encourage you to re-read all of those stats above and I hope that you find them quite alarming. I challenge each and every one of you to get your body back and get that physique back and let’s start to put a dent in this obesity epidemic. Unfortunately, our view of "normal" when it comes to what the human body looks like is extremely skewed due to these rising rates of obesity. Look at the attached photo; do you realize that is the physique and musculature that we all have? But who would ever know that based on what the "normal" American looks like today, because it looks nothing like that photo. We are all given this wonderful, lean and muscular frame that we can do so much with and it has become an absolute travesty when it comes to the abuse individuals choose to put their bodies through.

Let's toss out all the excuses and let's challenge ourselves to make today the first day of the rest of our lives. Let's start to eat right (not healthy, rather, eat right; these are 2 completely different animals) and let's start to work out smart so that we can start to shed all of that excess body fat and body weight and let's get your body back. Call yourself out; if you are one of those individuals with the mindset, "I don't have time." Forget that, no one wants to hear that excuse. Individuals use the excuse that they don't have time and that is why they are overweight, really? But they have time to toss back a few donuts at the office on donut-Friday and they have plenty a time to throw back that bottle of wine at night after work, right? Sure, everyone's busy, but everyone can make time to make the right choice when it comes to fitness and nutrition.

You are given this one great life and this one great body, I encourage you and challenge you to do the absolute most that you can with this one body that you are given. I can promise you this, once you start to get a taste of how good feeling great feels and how good being lean feels, you will never, ever want to go back to the other side. The benefits of eating right and working out smart are endless. You will be lighter, leaner, you will have more energy, you will be more productive, you will reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease and the list goes on and on. Who doesn't want a piece of that?

Challenge yourself, challenge your friends, and challenge your family members to do the same. Hold each other accountable and this will help to greatly increase the success. Pay close attention to those you are choosing as your accountability partner. We don't want enablers; enablers are not going to help us achieve success. It is the enabler that will say something such as, "oh honey, it's okay, you can have that donut, you deserve it, you've been working hard." Forget that, that doesn't help anyone become successful when it comes to getting his or her body back. The accountability partners you choose better be able to hold you accountable, provide tough love and vice versa. These are the individuals that you want in your corner as this will help to increase body composition success.

Who's in? Reread those bullet points above, and let's do our part to not contribute to those statistics. Let's start to reduce childhood and adult obesity one person at a time and 1% body fat loss at a time. Let's significantly reduce the strain on the medical system that is caused by these rising rates in obesity. In addition, continue to look at the attached photo, this is your physique. When you look in the mirror, you may not see any resemblance whatsoever right now, but it's there, trust me. You have this beautiful, tone, well-muscled physique ready to bust out. You just have to take one baby step after the next by eating right and working out smart and you to will get your body back!